The invention relates in general to safety harnesses, such as are worn on the torso of the body, and which in combination with safety lines serve to arrest a fall by the wearer from an elevated location, such as a hunting tree stand, a multi-story building under construction or the like. More particularly, the invention falls into the class of safety harnesses that allow for relief of suspension trauma and/or self-rescue.
Safety harnesses consisting of multiple straps, connectors and fastening elements for use by hunters, construction workers or the like are well known. A typical safety harness comprises a waist strap or waist belt that can be opened and closed to allow the harness to be easily put on and removed, fixed or length-adjustable rear shoulder straps and fixed or length-adjustable front shoulder straps connected to said waist strap, and thigh-straps connected to said waist strap by rear leg straps. Other harnesses utilize groin straps rather than thigh straps. Various types of closure members are utilized to adjust the length of the straps and to connect ends of the straps together, such as pass-through buckles or clip buckles. Connection means for connecting the harness to a safety line fixed to an anchor member, such as a tree or beam, are provided, and may comprise metal rings, hooks, carabiners or the like. The connection means are disposed either to the front of the harness, typically on the waist strap, or to the rear of the harness, typically at a junction of the front and rear shoulder straps.
There are various problems with the known harness designs. Known safety harnesses do not provide self-rescue and suspension trauma relief due to their current designs. Current designs have thigh straps whose distance from the waist strap cannot be adjusted, meaning that the harness design does not take into account the fact that the distance from the waist to the thighs can vary greatly between different users, or the designs use groin straps, which while length-adjustable are not the best suited design for avoiding injury when the harness arrests the falling user. The front tie-in members are located in a fixed position on the waist strap. No systems, kits or methodologies are known that utilize the improved structure for the harness described herein and which provide a means and method for both self-rescue and suspension trauma relief.
When a wearer falls, the body is suspended in air. If the wearer is suspended for a significant period of time, an effect known as suspension trauma will occur if the wearer cannot maintain sufficient movement in his legs over time to keep the blood circulating. Suspension trauma, also known as orthostatic intolerance, results in blood pooling in the legs when the human body is unnaturally suspended in the vertical orientation. When suspended from a safety harness, the pooling is the result of gravity as well as restriction by the groin straps or thigh straps, such that the heart cannot circulate enough blood to the brain. This leads to fainting and then death if the condition is not remedied.
It is an object of this invention therefore to provide a new and improved construction and design for a safety harness and fall arrest system, such that suspension trauma is minimized or relieved, and further such that the wearer can perform a self-rescue rather than having to wait for outside help. It is an object to provide such a harness and self-rescue system that can be utilized for either vertical anchor members (e.g., trees) or horizontal anchor members (e.g., overhead beams in a building under construction). It is a further object to provide a methodology for self-rescue using the safety harness and system described herein.